


Meet Your Match

by falloutboiruto



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Bad Matchmaking, Bad dates, Canon-Typical Violence, Crack, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Romantic Comedy, Teenage Dorks, bisexual!mitsuki, cho cho writes a fanfic in this one it's v meta, medic!mitsuki, past!borumitsu and background!borusara, they're supposed to be like.... 16
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24494878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falloutboiruto/pseuds/falloutboiruto
Summary: Cho Cho and Mitsuki start a matchmaking scheme. But will the two of them end up matching instead?
Relationships: Akimichi Chouchou/Mitsuki
Comments: 30
Kudos: 44





	1. no business like show business

**Author's Note:**

> beta read by: @reaperduckling  
> slightly inspired by ao3 users Tuvstarr's and ibloo's fanfic [Dating Pains](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23104942/chapters/55278829). it's really good!!! read it if you'd like.
> 
> (13/12-20 update: when i published the first chapter of this fic on 1/6-20 i did write a supportive bit about blm in this notes section. while i still stand by what i said i do think ao3 a/n sections are not the right platform for activism((it comes out more like slacktivism)) and i think it's better for me to move on to more productive means of supporting social justice movements.)

Cho Cho was bored.

_Boreeed._

She had no new team missions and no solo missions either. There were no new dramas to watch on TV. _Nothing_. Inspiration had even ebbed out for her saucy fan fiction about her favorite drama. Her literary masterpiece “ _Sparks Fly: A Love Love Romance High School Fanfiction_ ” had been indefinitely put on ice, disappointing her many (ok, there were like three on them) readers on the _Love Love Romance High School_ internet fan forum.

She needed to do something different for a while if only to just to get her out of the house and get new inspiration for her fanfiction. She was going to try to start some romance of her own— By starting a matchmaking business!

“Matchmaking business?” Mitsuki’s voice said. Cho Cho was not at all expecting Mitsuki to speak to her, much less physically manifest in the same park that she had gone to for a brainstorming session. Looking wildly around the perfectly landscaped bushes and flowerbeds to locate him, she found him sitting right next to her on her pick nick blanket.

Mitsuki must’ve noticed her flabbergasted confusion. “Oh. I’ve been here for a while. You were looking at me and talking at the same time, so I first assumed you were speaking to me. That is the social norm, after all.”

“ _What_ —“

“But you were just talking to yourself all along.” He nodded sagely, a serious look on his face. “That is, truly, how you get the best answers.”

Cho Cho’s face burned. After some wringing of her perfectly manicured hands in her lap, she decided that the best thing to do was ignore her rising embarrassment. “Yeah, what of it?”

"Nothing really. I was just curious because what my parent told me about matchmaking is that you’re supposed to decide if you’re interested in marrying the other person. That sounds very serious and slightly age-inappropriate as of yet for our friend group. We’re only teenagers after all. Unless you’re going to play matchmaker with adults?”

“Hold up,” Cho Cho said. "Is your parent a bit older than my parents? That kind of matchmaking is not as common these days and hasn't been for quite some time."

Mitsuki pulled a face as he thought. "I don't know their age," was his final answer. Well….

"I was thinking more of the lines of setting people up on more casual dates.”

“So that you can get inspiration for the story you’re writing?”

There it was again, the red-hot flush to her cheeks. She curled up into a ball and turned over to her side so she didn’t have to look at him anymore. “Don’t tell anyone about my fanfic, ok? It’s really embarrassing—“

"—How so? It's something you're truly passionate about. Nothing is embarrassing about that."

Cho Cho turned around. Mitsuki was, judging by his tone of voice and mannerisms, being perfectly sincere.

"You think so?" She hesitantly made an effort to sit up straight again. Her bare feet accidentally skidded outside of the pick-nick blanket and just-so-barely met with the freshly cut grass of the park lawn.

“Yes. I can even help you plan.” Mitsuki got up from the blanket and reached out a hand to help Cho Cho stand up. She took it, giddy with laughter, at least until she noticed the newly-formed grass stains on her white skirt. But she had washed worse stains out of it, being a ninja and all.

“Let’s do this!”

-

Back in her bedroom, Cho Cho rumbled through her (pink, fluffy) notebook for her notes.

“A group date is a good way to meet new people! It’s also less awkward because you can go with your friends.”

“Sounds good,” Mitsuki replied.

However, arranging a group date with their friends at Thunder Burger turned out to be a bust. Mainly, that no-one wanted to attend.

-

“I’m already friends with all the girls in my age group!” Iwabee said, affronted. “And I know for a fact that _none_ of them like me already!”

“How can you be so sure?” Mitsuki asked.

Iwabee blushed and said something that sounded suspiciously like "Because I've already tried asking them out". Then he cried on Mitsuki’s shoulder.

“There, there,” Mitsuki said while patting him on the head gently.

-

“You mean the crusty guys in our old Academy class?” Wasabi sneered. “I’ve already seen them, and they are not at all impressive even though we’re all chuunin now.”

“But what if I get guys from the other classes from our year? They _might_ be hot?” Cho Cho coaxed.

“Nah, I’ve seen them too. I’ll just be single for the rest of my life.”

-

“G-g-girls?” Metal stuttered. “That’s way too scary, even in a group!”

-

“Boys make me cry!” Namida (yep, you guessed it) cried.

-

“Girls are a distraction from the Ninja Way!”

-

“Boys are a distraction from becoming Hokage.”

-

Cho Cho frantically ripped all of the pages out of her notebook and spread it on her bedroom floor like carpeting. “We have asked every single person we know—and none of them are interested in going on group dates.” She was almost crying, hair frazzled and standing on end, and her top was backward.

"Your top is on backward," Mitsuki pointed out. He looked the same he always did—nonchalant.

“I know!” Cho Cho replied. “I did it intentionally to be extra dramatic about my incoming mental breakdown.” (That was a complete and utter lie)

Mitsuki winced and squatted down to sit next to her. “Maybe we should cancel project _Group Date_. Perhaps people are more open to solo dating?”

“I don’t know about that either…” Cho Cho looked back into her floor-length mirror that was standing in the corner. She looked _terrible_. Flipping her top back around the right way without accidentally exposing herself would probably be impossible, so she asked Mitsuki to look away.

“I’ve been thinking,” Mitsuki said as he faced away, staring into the ceiling and humming to himself. “We’ve haven’t tried one-to-one matching. Generally, people are just interested in one specific person. If we take one person and figure out who their crush is, we might be more successful.”

“That’s a good point! Who should we start with?” Cho Cho was at this point wearing her top correctly and she deemed her overall appearance to be satisfactory. Maybe just a little bit more lip gloss…

“Maybe Boruto? As I’ve known him for a few years at this point, I understand him pretty well. Are you done?” He was still facing the wall.

“Yeah, yeah, sure. But who should we set him up with? Maybe,” Cho Cho said, chuckling to herself by how silly her next idea was. “I should set _you_ up with Boruto?” _Ridiculous_. Mitsuki, now looking at her directly, frowned (if him slightly scrunching his brow counted as that, but that was a lot more emoting than he’d usually give). “Don’t.” Gone was the humoring tone, replaced with something that sounded suspiciously _hurt_ of all things. His fists were held clenched at his sides, his body tense.

“Oh!” she backtracked. “Sorry, I won’t.” Why was Mitsuki touchy about that? It was probably best not to pry, though. “Is there anyone else you’d like to go on a date with? I have—”, she waggled her eyebrows,”— _Connections_.”

He sighed and looked at the pages upon pages of notes and diagrams spread on the floor. “No. I suggest that Boruto goes on a date with _Sarada_. He’s been nagging me about her for years, but he’d never admit it to her willingly.”

“Yeah, I know right? Talk about romantic tension.” She picked up the 10-page-long (illustrated) essay she’d written about the subject. “I’ve got you covered.”

After she had handed the papers to him he flipped through the pages, nodding and humming approvingly to himself. “You have a whole section about Boruto and Sarada’s first date. _Nice_. You’re suggesting a Ferris wheel?”

“Yes! We could chaperone them from afar from the closest gondola! If they’re not romantic enough we can shout suggestions at them.”

“Don’t people on dates want to be left alone, though? So they can kiss and stuff.”

“Silly, of course they don’t— Hm.” She touched a hand to her face, deep in thought. “I don’t know, I’ve never been on a date. I’ve only seen them on TV.”

Mitsuki stared at her like she’d grown an extra head. “That’s surprising. But it explains a lot.”

“What exactly does it explain?”

“You’re obsessed with the idea of romance because it’s foreign to you. And so, you try to pair up your friends to live a fantasy. Frankly, I don’t understand why. You’re extremely beautiful and while you’re somewhat disconnected to reality, you are really fun to hang out with. Why do people reject you?”

“Uh,” Cho Cho stumbled out, not sure if she should be flattered or insulted. It was a bit too early in the day for psycho-analysis. “Why are you asking me? Ask them!”

But when she thought about it, weren’t her forays into romance all kind of the same? She’d meet a guy but he’d be a jerk. Then he’d turn around and see her for how great she truly was, but she’d gently let him down because honestly, she could do better than someone who treated her like crap.

“I guess I tend to fall for guys that are kind of mean to me,” she said. “So _I_ end up _rejecting_ them because I deserve better.”

“Oh. Well, I’ve seen that happen. Maybe it’s for the best.” Mitsuki flipped through her “BorutoxSarada First Date Planner” again the wrong way and ended up on the front page displaying a stick figure drawing of a girl and boy holding hands (she hadn’t absorbed Inojin’s art skills through osmosis yet, ok?).

“You’re kind of a know-it-all, you know?” She meant it almost affectionately. _Almost_.

“Yes, I am aware. But mostly concerned with your personal safety. There’s only one of you, after all.” He handed her Date Planner back and sat back down on the floor to look through some more of her scattered notes. “While I think your plans for the BorutoxSarada pairing are truly genius, I don’t think us staring at them while they have a date is going to help them get together. They’ve already told me as much. So I suggest—“

She was all ears.

-

Mitsuki found Boruto at Thunder Burger, eating a burger by himself as usual. He slid into his booth and—

“You like Sarada, don’t you, Boruto.”

“Pftftftfttftftfffttt—!” Boruto spat out burger remnants and saliva all over Mitsuki’s face. But Mitsuki simply wiped himself off with a restaurant-supplied paper napkin.

“You keep telling me that you like her. But have you ever asked her out?”

“Wait, wait wait!” Boruto gulped down a sip of soda before he could continue (due to almost choking on the previously mentioned mouthful of burger). "Mitsuki, not so loud! She might hear us!”

“Isn’t that what you want, though?”

“No—Yes—No, I mean. I don’t know?” Boruto looked away, suddenly awkward and not at all his usual boisterous self. “I think I need to figure myself out first. She’s just so… ugh. Cool? So I need to be perfect before I can even consider becoming her boyfriend.”

While that was sweet, it was not according to plan. Back to the headquarters (Cho Cho's house), it was!

-

“Did you succeed?” was the first word out of Cho Cho’s lips after opening the front door.

Mitsuki shrugged. “Nope. I got nothing.” He looked at Cho Cho expectantly while taking his shoes off.

“I didn’t really succeed either,” Cho Cho admitted. Sarada could be very scary when she was mad…

_“I already told you! Boys are a distraction from becoming Hokage!” Sarada had all-but screamed, a fire behind her red-rimmed glasses._

At this point, as far into failure as they were, most people would’ve given up. But not Cho Cho. After hearing exactly what Boruto had had to say, she got even more fired up.

“Ugh, I’m so mad Boruto is such a… weenie! If he could just get his head out of his butt he could totally date Sarada! She does like him, that thing she says is just a defense mechanism because she's hurt that he won't admit anything to her!"

“True,” Mitsuki said. “But I understand Boruto’s point of view as well. He is often put in situations where he bears a lot of responsibility he can’t shy away from. He has to solve everyone’s problems— it’s no surprise he can’t figure out his own. Look, maybe we should stop doing this. We’re meddling in business we don’t belong in.”

“How so?”

“It’s becoming a bit manipulative—“

Cho Cho took a deep breath, steadying herself. “If you thought this was manipulative, then why did you gas me up from the beginning? I would’ve never actually considered match-making in real life if you hadn’t pushed me to it. It was just a silly fantasy before you swooped in.”

Mitsuki flinched. “I was just going along with what you were telling me.” He was looking down on his feet again and not making eye contact.

“Yeah, I guess you were in a sense,” Cho Cho said and rubbed a hand over her face just before she realized that she had just smudged all her makeup off. _Rats_. “Let’s just… call it quits, ok? Nothing lost, nothing gained.”

Mitsuki made a motion that had sort of a semblance to a nod and left her house swiftly. _Aw geez._ Then she realized that her parents had been lurking in the living room the whole time, listening to every word of her and Mitsuki’s conversation. Mom made a swooshy hand motion like she was waiting for an explanation. Dad was eating popcorn.

“It’s complicated, ok!” Cho Cho bristled and stormed up the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the kind of matchmaking mitsuki mentions is supposed to be miai(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miai), please tell me if i've misunderstood the practice.
> 
> please leave kudos and commments if you've enjoyed this! what will happen in the next chapter?????? whu knuws


	2. buy sexual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the wacky hijinxs continue! oh my!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm back... please enjoy!

Cho Cho absolutely did not spend the entire night agonizing over her and Mitsuki's failed matchmaking business. Not even a little bit. Spending the day planning and scheming with Mitsuki had been surprisingly fun, and having all their hard work turn into ashes right before her eyes— she didn't feel bad! She did not!

…Ok, maybe a little. Or, a lot. And so, in the morning she went on her phone to text Mitsuki but discovered that he had already sent her a one-sentence text message asking her to meet up. Oh jeez. His message was written in a flat tone and contained no clarifying emojis or smiley faces. Perhaps he was angry with her?

Only time could tell.

-

She met up with Mitsuki in town on a street with slightly less foot traffic than most places in the city center. By smell rather than sight Cho Cho discovered a street food shop making takoyaki a little further down the street. Quickly, she started making mental calculations on if it was too early to get lunch yet. The obvious conclusion she came to was a resounding 'Nah', but Mitsuki was too insistent on talking to her right away, and thus she didn't have the time to make her (surely oh so tasty)purchase. He started out with a deep exhale and came out right of the gates with a strong yet extremely confusing statement.

“I want to tell you something. I am buy sexual.”

“ _Huh_. Uh—can you explain what that means? I’ve never heard of buy sexuality…” _Was is some kind of shopping problem?_

“No, _bi_ sexuality. It means that I’m romantically interested in both men and women.”

"Oh," she said. "Ok. Well, thanks for telling me." This was the first time Cho Cho had ever heard of that, but it did make a lot of sense. To be fair, she did kind of get it. Guys were obviously super-hot, but girls were really pretty too. During the slightly awkward yet companionable ensuing silence, Cho Cho started to realize that her mishear just then had been, like, pretty insensitive. Maybe? "Did we talk about that in Sex Ed back at the academy? I don't remember hearing about it."

"No," Mitsuki said. "Shino-sensei didn't really mention gay, bi or trans people at all. He just put condoms on 5 separate cucumbers to demonstrate."

"Ew, I remember that too—"she giggled. Now that had been a weird 50 minutes. Now, Cho Cho wasn't entirely sure what trans was either. She made a mental note to ask later. "Seems like he should've mentioned it. Sounds like it would be pretty common to be bisexual."

Mitsuki nodded. “Yes. I had to look the term up on the internet.”

There was an (awkward-er) pause as the gears and cogs in Cho Cho's head turned. This was a weird day already, and it was barely noon. "Sorry, I do appreciate you telling me, but does this relate to our disagreement yesterday somehow? Because I don't really understand—"

"It does. The reason why I accused our scheme of being manipulative was personal. When I first came to Konoha, I did act fairly manipulative for the first few weeks when we were investigating the Ghost incidents. I have since then regretted that and was scared of sliding into the same pattern again. But that is my problem to deal with."

“Huh. Well, I was around for that and I don’t even remember thinking that at all.”

“I mostly manipulated from behind the scenes, so it’s not strange that you don’t remember. At the time I was acting on orders from very questionable sources and butting so much into Boruto’s life again as I specifically did in the past brought back some really bad memories. What I’m trying to say is— I used to have an extremely sad crush on Boruto. Hence the bisexuality. Because of said crush’s raging intensity and unrequitedness coupled with the lack of emotional support provided from my family, it only ended up hurting me. It didn’t matter how nice he was to me—feeling the way I did made me sad. So, I moved on.”

 _Geez, that sucked. And was a lot of information at once._ Cho Cho scratched the back of her neck as if that would help her in her search for something profound to say. “ _Oh_.” (She came up blank).

"Anyway, that's all been sorted now," Mitsuki said, dismissive as if he hadn't just been talking about his very sad childhood. "I apologize for what I said to you."

"I accept your apology, but uh— you don't need to apologize, honestly? Also, don't sweat it about the crush stuff. It mostly just sounds like you were literally twelve to me. Getting upset over your crush not liking you—been there, done that."

Mitsuki laughed, a short, low sound. Cho Cho couldn’t remember ever hearing him do that before. “It is a tender age indeed.”

“Yeah!” And because she couldn’t help to try to make him laugh again— “One time a guy I had a crush on laughed at me, so I wrote a story about me egging his house. I later rewrote it into a Love Love Romance High School fanfiction.”

“How’d it go?”

“I got flamed for character bashing…”

“Such is fate,” Mitsuki nodded while looking away. There was something in his smile that Cho Cho couldn’t quite identify. Probably because she wasn’t used to Mitsuki smiling at all.

“Wanna get lunch?” Cho Cho asked, pointing to the takoyaki stand behind them.

“…No. But you go ahead.”

They ended up walking around a little bit in town while Cho Cho munched down her food until they were apprehended by a shadowy figure jumping down from a rooftop. Said shadowy figure turned out to be a familiar face wearing a Badidas black and pink tracksuit.

“I’ve been searching for you guys everywhere!” Boruto flung himself on the ground and clutched at Mitsuki’s legs like a piece of driftwood in a stormy sea. “Please, _please_ get me a date with Sarada!—“

“—she’ll be more likely to go on a date with you if you stop trying to pants me—“

"Oh. Sorry!" Boruto let go of Mitsuki's legs, stood up, and dusted himself off while whistling a jaunty tune. "Uh, anyway. I decided that I want to go on a date with Sarada. What should I do? Oh, great, Cho Cho!" He said like he had been unaware of her existence before this very moment. "You are a girl."

“So you’ve noticed?” Cho Cho couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Boruto, finally ready to admit to his feelings for Sarada? It had been a long time coming. They had been dancing around the subject for long enough for Sarada(and by extension, Cho Cho) to want to start pulling her hair out in chunks.

“ _How_ do I ask her out? Should I, like, save her from a bear or something?”

"What kind of bear?" It sounded like a terrible plan, but she wanted to hear the details anyway (mostly to maybe use as plot bunnies in her fic later).

“I don’t know, probably a really big one. Or is that too pretentious?”

_Pretentious isn’t how she’d put it…._

“I think you should just ask her out directly,” Mitsuki mused. “I think she’d appreciate that most of all.”

"But that's scary!" Boruto was already drenched in a cold sweat. "You are right, of course. It's the mortifying ordeal of being known that's the worst part about dating." He crossed his arms and put a hand to his (very slippery)chin. "I'll have to write a speech."

“But why waste your great talent for improvisation?”

“Yeah, yeah, so you keep telling me,” Boruto waved his hands around dismissively. “So what, do I just tell her ‘please go out with me’?”

“Yes. That’s literally how you ask girls out.” Cho Cho said. “I understand that it’s scary but dating is just that— scary. There’s no way around it. You need to prove yourself as a man by taking risks and chances. Sarada will see that and appreciate your effort.” She pumped her fist in the air and Boruto responded by mirroring her. Her rousing speech had lit Boruto’s fighting spirit!

“You guys are so alike in some ways,” Mitsuki chuckled.

“What, ew! No! I’m nothing like Boruto!”

“What do you mean, ‘ _ew’_?!”

-

After some more bickering and sly digs from Mitsuki, Boruto went on his merry way to ask Sarada out on a date.

“I’m so proud of him,” Cho Cho said, watching as Boruto faded into the crowd of the busy city street.

“We do make quite the team.”

They really did, didn’t they?

-

 **peanut:** Cho Cho, did you tell Boruto to ask me out?

 **butt-erfly:** NOOOO what makes you think that??? lmao

 **peanut:** Because if so, THANK YOU.

 **peanut:** He was stammering and he almost cried but he finally did it!!!

 **butt-erfly** : Yaaay!!!! Do you want me to help you pick out an outfit?

 **peanut:** No, that won’t be necessary. Actually…

 **butt-erfly:** “Actually…” what

 **peanut:** Look, I already know about your and Mitsuki’s little matchmaker scheme. Please give us some privacy during our date.

 **butt-erfly:** Sure thing! Of course!! Tee hee hee!

-

“I heard from some reputable sources that the BorutoxSarada first date is going to take place at an amusement park this Saturday” Cho Cho said. “Mitsuki, I suggest that we chaperone them from afar. Not close enough to be invasive, but in that so we’ll still have somewhat of a presence.”

“I’m unsure. We should probably just let them do their thing—“

“—We can sit in the Ferris wheel with binoculars—“

“ _Let’s do it_.”

-

And so, that Saturday, Cho Cho ended up sitting in a Ferris Wheel compartment for several hours. With Mitsuki also being there, it was kind of cramped. They went on circular ride after ride, all the while trying to spy on Sarada and Boruto. They hadn’t seen them all day-

Mitsuki put his binoculars down and pulled a face. "As stakeouts go, this is boring."

“Well, boring or not we need to stay focus—Oh! There they are!” Cho Cho had just spotted their targets. "They’re playing a mini-game!”

The teeny-tiny Boruto down on the ground received a giant teddy bear from the stand worker, and he immediately… gave it to Sarada?

“Now that’s romantic,” Mitsuki mumbled, eyes(and binoculars) intent on their targets. He had leaned over Cho Cho’s seat to get a better angle, she realized now that she looked away from their targets, his shoulder brushing hers and if she reached out she could run her fingers through his hair and _oh my god_ what was she thinking and suddenly he was _too close_ and the compartment felt too stuffy and overheated and—

“ _Ah-hem_ ," she cleared her throat so loudly that Mitsuki flinched and threw himself backward into the outmost corner of his side of the compartment.

“Please don’t scare me like that,” he said. “Unexpected loud noises and I don’t mesh well.” He had red rims around his eyes from the binoculars that had previously pressed towards his skin. ~~Cho Cho wanted to~~ it didn’t matter what she wanted, she had to get out of this situation _now_.

“Sorry! But. This is, how you say… _boring_. You too want to get out of here and get some fresh air, huh, Mitsuki?" Her voice cracked and broke just as hilariously as all her guy friends' had when they'd first entered puberty.

“But—“

The compartment had conveniently arrived at ground level. Without thinking, Cho Cho grabbed Mitsuki’s hand ( _what???)_ and dragged him out of there. They had gotten far from the Ferris wheel and had already gotten in line to a rollercoaster before she realized—

“Uh. Why are we holding hands?” Mitsuki asked. Cho Cho snatched her hand away and Mitsuki looked, for a moment, almost _disappointed—_

“No reason,” Cho Cho lied through her teeth. Her lie did not slip by unnoticed judging by Mitsuki’s aggressive squinting and slightly huffy exhale. But at least he dropped the subject.

The rollercoaster turned out to be pretty fun. So they went to another one. And another one. And then the carousel—

-

Boruto and Sarada had already hit the point of amusement park exhaustion and were relaxing on a bench in the shade. Boruto was building up the courage to hold Sarada’s hand, but she was holding an ice cream (that he had paid for) with both hands. Curse his generous and giving nature!

“So… Sarada. I want to give you something.”

“What?”

“But I need your hand to do it.”

“I’m eating ice cream. It can wait,” Sarada, said, cocking an eyebrow at him and then redirecting her attention back to her ice cream. Boruto’s insides, hopes, and dreams turned into ashes and dust right then and there but then he saw—

"Hey! Are those guys over there at that carousel Mitsuki and Cho Cho?" Boruto was surprised. But also not surprised. But again, very surprised.

In the distance, Cho Cho and Mitsuki seemed to be having the time of their lives.

“Of course they’re here,” Sarada snarked. “They’re spying on us.”

“Oh wow, I can’t believe it!” Boruto lied(badly).

“Yeah, I’m sure you can’t,” Sarada rolled her eyes. “You told them about our date, hmm?”

“Maybe, but to be fair, they aren’t, like, stalking us. Look at them! They’re having a fun day out!”

Sarada had by this point finished her ice cream and started eating the cone. Between bits of waffle, her mood shifted from unimpressed to concern. “I’m glad Mitsuki is having fun. He’s been acting kind of weird lately.”

“Yeah, I guess?” Boruto scratched his cheek. “Has he been avoiding you too?”

"Not really, but sort of." A vague wishy-washy statement accompanied by an unspecific shrug of her shoulders. "I just wish he would talk to us so that I don't have to worry about him possibly defecting from the village again. Remember that? That was—"

"Look, he'll talk to us when he's ready. Uh, anyway, where were we?" Boruto's gaze and entire brain zeroed in on Sarada's (now free) right hand. "Can I… Uh. You know…?"

Sarada barked out a laugh and grasped his hand with hers. “Sure.”

-

Riding the carousel, Cho Cho's fingers accidentally almost touching Mitsuki's as they both gripped at the bars, was an experience, to say the least.

Throwing their hands up in the air simultaneously to cheer as they rode a seemingly endless rollercoaster had been fun. If that was what fun felt like?

Seeing Cho Cho scarf down a pink cloud of cotton candy in a manner of seconds ("It's my superpower!") had been hugely impressive. Honestly, he couldn't quite believe it.

These things, amongst other _things_ , added up and amounted to a huge number of _things_ in Mitsuki’s internal list of _things_ he liked about Cho Cho. Right now, it almost felt comparable to the list he had written about Boruto years ago, like putting numbers and letters on paper would’ve helped him make sense of the explosion of unidentifiable emotions he had felt then, and to some degree, still felt now.

The first line Mitsuki had ever written down on that past, highly regrettable list had been— '1. Boruto seems to have mistaken me for someone whose life has inherent meaning. How interestingly foolish'. Though pretentiously worded, it perfectly encapsulated the flaw in his parent's plan. Whatever the greater good of their initial purpose had been, it had given Mitsuki the vice to only value himself in whatever validation he could get from Boruto. It had been an unfair position to put an unknowing Boruto in, and a terrible situation for himself to be put in as well.

But perhaps this list full of things Mitsuki could write about Cho Cho would be quite different from the start. As he came home that night and was almost-mauled by a hungry Mikazuki(they would claw at his pant legs until he fed them. _Yes_ , it hurt), something kept running at the outer perimeter of his mind. With the cat's (frankly, too loud) kibble-eating noises as background music he picked up pen and paper and started to write. Whatever he wrote down(mainly extremely mushy stuff) wasn’t as important as the fact that none of them were ‘necessary for feelings of basic self-worth’.

He had to be smart about this. Otherwise, it could crash and burn (he thought, with no prior experience of any romantic relationships crashing and burning, perhaps due to never actually expressing his feelings out loud). It was necessary to analyze the situation to the last detail to make sure he was as over Boruto as he claimed to be to honestly pursue Cho Cho(and avoid possible mutual heartbreak).

Next thing tomorrow, he was going to buy a new notebook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what's gonna happen in the next chapter?????? who knows i haven't written it yet. BUT SOON  
> please leave kudos and comments if you've enjoyed this lmao


	3. does not compute

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TEH END...

“Boruto, Sarada—Will you two stop being lovey-dovey and help out with the mission for once!?”

The stakes were high, but not super high. The bandits that needed to be brought down were not strong enough to need two chuunin teams assigned to the mission, but still, here they were. And Sarada and Boruto were just slacking off. Perhaps setting them up would have unforeseen consequences for Team 7. But Mitsuki didn’t regret his decision. At least Boruto and Sarada weren’t arguing all the time like before.

Inojin repeated his previous yell-question and threw his hands out, accidentally releasing his half-finished painted beast lopsidedly crawling towards the enemy. They were all crouched behind a boulder, Shikadai and Inojin trying their best to snare their targets from a distance so that Cho Cho could strike. Mitsuki was waiting for the same opportunity, but Boruto and Sarada, the other melee fighters were, indeed, being lovey-dovey. They were kissing. Each other. During a mission.

Mitsuki had long ago accepted this (saliva-swapping) change in the Team 7 dynamic, in which he had gone from the fifth wheel to just being a freeballing wheel, spinning around in the wilderness, far removed from any other wheels. "Such are the follies of youth," he commented.

Shikadai and Inojin responded with joint (highly realistic) vomit noises.

“Look,” Shikadai spat out. “When Konohamaru-sensei made Sarada and I team captains for this mission I’m sure he wasn’t imagining _this_! Boruto, I understand. But you too, _Sarada_?”

Boruto resurfaced from his face sucking entanglements only to bark out an angry “What’s that supposed to mean?” while Sarada, finally, _finally_ pulled away entirely. “He’s right. I can’t become Hokage if I don’t focus on missions.”

"So what're the orders, co-team captain?" Cho Cho asked. She peered out from the side of the boulder only to almost get hit by a flying kunai from the enemy side. “ _Jeez_!”

“ _Uh_ ,” Sarada fumbled for words in a very unlike-her way. Her headband was askew and her hair stood on end. “What’s the situation, Shikadai?”

“Are you kidding me— Ok. I get it. I’ll explain. Remind me to never get stuck with you bozos again.” Shikadai theatrically rolled his eyes but quickly launched into a new battle strategy. Sarada nodded and added in enough suggestions for a feasible plan to eventually materialize. Cho Cho and Boruto were going to attack first, with Sarada as the ace and Mitsuki as support.

“And Shikadai and I are just going to support you at a distance from behind this rock” Inojin cheered. “Good luck out there!”

“And you’re calling _me_ a slacker—“Boruto grumbled, but they began their charge at the bandits before he could finish his complaining.

The ensuing fight was short and quick. They easily overpowered the bandits and soon enough, they were tying them up with ropes.

“See what just a little bit of teamwork and _focus_ can do?” Inojin said, clearly prodding for a reaction.

Boruto continued to grumble and Sarada, furious, clenched her teeth and fists in what Mitsuki recognized as her trying to stifle the urge to knock Inojin’s face in. To be fair, Inojin was pretty much right. However, they had gotten the job done all right—wait, what was that curious noise heading towards them—

Before they barely had the time to react, a kunai shot out of a treetop heading towards Cho Cho. She managed to mostly dodge it, but it left a cut on her thigh that had her crying out in pain—

“Get back here you _friend-stabbing goon_ —“Boruto yelled and ran after their mysterious assailant.

Shikadai huffed in exasperation. “Well, if that’s the way it is… Sarada, come with me. Inojin, Mitsuki. You’re both medics. One of you has to go with us. Eenie, meanie, miney— Inojin, come with us. Mitsuki, you heal Cho Cho. Got it? “

“On it,” Mitsuki said, getting his medic kit out of his fanny pack already.

“One of these days I’m going to have an aneurysm—“And with that lovely grumble from Shikadai as a parting present, they all left, leaving Cho Cho and Mitsuki alone in the forest.

“Ugh, how embarrassing,” Cho Cho chuckled as she sat down on the grassy ground and let him take a look. It was. Hm. How to put it.

“It’s bleeding somewhat,” Mitsuki said while starting to heal the cut. “But you won’t die.”

"I know! I've been on missions before, you know? The worst part is getting the bloodstains out of my clothes. And it's not even that hard! It's not even a ninja-exclusive thing, that's a uterus-haver thing!”

“I haven’t thought about it like that before, but I guess you’re right.” The wound had almost crusted over. “It won’t leave a scar.”

She hummed a little tune under her breath, suddenly awkward and averting her eyes from him. “That’s good.”

As Mitsuki was finishing up the healing process, Cho Cho suddenly grew tense. They were, indeed, very close. He kind of _had_ _to_ touch her thigh to heal her, so it wasn’t like he was doing anything wrong. He had a medical reason. But Cho Cho was still so stiff and uncomfortable— Mitsuki leaned his upper body as far back as he could while still sitting down, which was quite far back. Now, time for an ice-breaker.

“So, Cho Cho. How’s your fanfiction going?”

“What?” Cho Cho barked, springing forward, closing the distance between them. “Why are you laying down on the ground? Are you hurt?”

“Don’t move—“Her sudden movement had caused Mitsuki’s chakra to disconnect from her prior-cut, now-slightly-raised-scar. _Great_. “I can’t heal you properly if you do that.”

"Are you—" Cho Cho squinted at him. He could feel her breath on his face. _Uh oh_. "Are you asking about my fanfic? _Now_?”

“Yes.” Mitsuki decided that their physical positioning was most likely way too close for Cho Cho’s liking, and slinked to the side, did a somersault on the ground and resurfaced in a sitting position with a respectable distance between the two of them again. If he reached out his arm, he would barely be able to reach her without stretching it. Hm. “But first I need to completely fade your scar.”

Cho Cho studied the place of injury for a moment. "Nah, it's good as new. I have way worse stretch marks, honestly. You did a good job." She drummed her fingers against the side of her thigh as if to assure him.

“But you’re so preoccupied with your appearance. “

She rolled her eyes, a crooked smirk on her (very glossy) lips. “That’s because I know now that I’m great the way I naturally look. Now, let’s go see what the rest of our ragtag team of misfits are up to. And yes—“Standing up straight, Cho Cho flipped her hair around in a possible post-modernist-mockery of an idol pose. Or just a straight-up imitation of an idol pose. "I still have a writer's block, sadly enough. _Pbfft_ —"She plucked at her lips to a remove a now-gooey flyaway strand of hair. "Ugh, getting hair stuck to your lip-gloss is _the worst.”_

“That’s the way the world works, tragically enough.” Mitsuki wanted to continue to tell her just how much her apt attention to such small details such as hair glossiness, fingernail grooming, and intricate makeup fascinated him. But instead, he decided to listen to her and focus on the mission for now. Where she'd go, he'd follow. Just hopefully not as co-dependently as with previous crushes.

-

In a particularly desperate attempt to get to spend more time with Cho Cho, Mitsuki invited her over to meet his cat. While it sounded like the setup to a horribad pick-up line, Mitsuki’s intention was none other than pure. She would, most likely, find Mikazuki charming and they would have a grand old time. Nothing could go wrong.

-

Cho Cho did think that being asked to meet someone’s cat was a bit strange, but she appreciated it regardless. She hadn’t been at Mitsuki’s apartment before, she’d only heard stories from Sarada about its diminutive size and depressing lack of furnishing and decoration. That turned out to be sort-of true, as the human furniture in the apartment turned out to just be a bed and a nightstand, but there was a smorgasbord of cat-related paraphernalia scattered across the floor. The cat in question was nowhere to be seen.

“Mikazuki doesn’t play with cat toys anymore, even if I try very hard” Mitsuki explained. “They only want to play with this shoestring.” He picked up a crusty-looking half-destroyed lone shoelace from the floor. “I think they’re hiding. Hold this while I try to bring them out.”

“Thanks!” The shoelace was slightly wet, hopefully from leftover cat saliva.

Mitsuki got a bag of cat treats open and shook it slightly. A cat-shaped shadow zoomed out from under the bed and began digging its claws into Mitsuki’s pants, all while screaming on the top of its lungs.

“Here you go,” Mitsuki cooed after giving the cat a treat. The cat refused to eat out of his hand and would only eat off the floor, hunched over like a tiny goblin. “Do you want to give them one? They’ll like you if you do.”

 _No_. “Yeah, sure!” Said and done, after the cat (Mikazuki?) had crunched up the second treat it did seem friendlier. Sort of. After a short (terrifying)while of playing 'attack the shoestring', Mikazuki snatched it from her hands entirely and retreated to under the bed with only the sound of faint chewing signifying its existence.

“Aren’t they cute?” Mitsuki asked.

 _God_ did she want to make him happy. She settled on lying through her teeth-“Sure”, and Mitsuki nodded sagely. Then, he announced that he was going to the bathroom, and promptly did so, leaving Cho Cho alone in the small room.

Cho Cho looked around, nervous, not sure of what to do. There wasn't anywhere to sit, except the bed of course, but that felt a bit invasive ( _/too_ _forward/presumptuous/uuaaaaaAAAaahhhhh_ ) _._ Her eyes flickered between the framed photographs on the nightstand. Most of them were silly group pictures of all their friends from when they were all younger. There was only one photo of Mitsuki of the current age he was now, one where he was standing next to an, honestly, kind of scary looking adult that somehow looked familiar. However, she fixated on a big chunk of dried snakeskin on the floor next to the bed. It was. Hm. How to put it. Something that didn't quite make sense as décor. However, she picked it up and examined it in the lack of better things to do. When she squinted her eyes, she could make out words on it, written in marker:

_your beauty is beyond compare_

_flaming locks of copper hair_

_dark skin and eyes of amber gold_

_your smile is like a breath of spring_

_your voice is soft like summer rain_

_and he cannot compete with you_

_Cho Cho_

What an incredibly strange decoration. Where could've Mitsuki even possibly have found something as obscure as this? It even looked _exactly_ like his handwriting. Maybe he had found it by accident?

The sudden noises of running water on the other side of the wall interrupting her thoughts, Cho Cho decided to ask Mitsuki about the origins of the décor piece as soon as Mitsuki re-emerged from the bathroom.

“That’s, eh, mine,” Mitsuki deadpanned, stopping dead in his tracks in the bathroom doorway. “I wrote it myself. It’s part of my diary.”

“ _Your diary_?” Cho Cho closed her filthy, plebian eyes immediately as to not intrusively read another word and punted the offending object as far away from her as she possibly could. When she peeled her eyes open again, Mitsuki was tenderly ripping the snakeskin off his face. _Oops._

“You didn’t have to throw it away. I’m ok with you reading it. It was only a matter of time, anyway.”

"Reading someone's diary is a serious violation of personal privacy! I'm sorry!" Cho Cho's face (and entire body) had grown flushed. She'd surely die of embarrassment!

“Don’t be. My parent used to read my diary out loud and laugh at it.”

There was a (long, _awkward_ ) beat wherein Cho Cho stared at him from across the room, processing what she just heard. “That’s not ok—“

“Note that I said _used to_ ,” was the pointed rebuttal. “They’ve improved a lot.”

“That’s good…” Cho Cho turned around haplessly, and the next thing her wandering gaze landed on was the framed photograph of Mitsuki and the scary and ghoulish adult of unclear age and gender that he somehow resembled, despite looking nothing like them at all. “Is that your parent? Uh…are they a man or a woman?”

“Yes, and what does their gender matter?”

 _Oh. “_ Not much, I guess.” Cho Cho shrugged her shoulders. Looking closer, she did start to recognize the person next to Mitsuki. She had met _them_ (Orochimaru, she remembered now) before, a couple of years ago, when she was helping Sarada to search for her Dad. She had gotten a fairly bad impression of them (mostly because of their super creepy lab murder basement) at the time, but maybe they’d gotten a bad impression of her as well. Well, if Mitsuki honestly thought that they’d improved…. “Wait.” She backtracked to the _real_ subject at hand. “I still don’t understand why _you_ wrote a poem about how pretty I am?”

Mitsuki took a couple of seconds to gather his thoughts and words. “Did you not understand my artistic vision? I thought it was clear enough, I practiced writing it over and over until I ran out of notebook paper.”

“No?”

“I’m in love with you.”

“ _Oh_.” While that was all she said, it was as if the entire universe had caved in and her brain was now floating through a psychedelic dreamscape full of unimaginable possibilities. Such, as, Mitsuki liking her back.

A moment of silence passed where neither of them knew what to say.

“I—I know how to continue my fanfic,” Cho Cho spat out, shell-shocked.

Mitsuki winced and looked away. "Well, if you want someone to proofread it—"

“Thank you, I’d appreciate that. But first—“She mentally steeled herself and walked closer to Mitsuki. Every last step was heavier than the one before. As her stomach lurched and evaporated a thousand times over and over again, she got up on her tippy toes to make them sort-of equal height (he was as tall as a beanpole). Then, she kissed him.

-

**Sparks Fly; a Love Love Romance High School Fanfiction by chuchufallinlove**

Chapter 27: A new mysterious mystery

_A/N: hellooo u guys sorry for not posting for like, a year. like, a lot of irl stuff happened!!! :O beta read by my bf even though he has never watched LLRHS ever in his life lmao. thank you boo <3 flames will be used for barbequing NOM NOM NOM >:D >:3 :P_

It was a dark and stormy night—

_-_

**Comment by LLRHSfan9000**

I can’t believe that Souske-Bouske would to that to Bho Bho! Bho Bho is such a great OC btw, I really love her. Pls upd8 soon.

**Comment by Souske-Bouskeisthebest420**

I can’t believe Souske-Bouske would do that to Bho Bho! He’s way better than that! Stop bashing my husband or else I will stop reading. P.S Bho Bho sucks!!1!

**Comment by guest user**

I really loved reading this chapter. I know how much Love Love Romance High School (or LLRHS for short) means to you and I’m looking forward to reading the future chapters. Follow your dreams and never stop being you. //Mitsuki

_The End_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! please show me some love in the comments section if you've enjoyed this :D


End file.
